The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Tuesday November 23, 2004
In the article below we said that Tracey Emin's installation, entitled Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, was a tent stitched with the names of all her sexual conquests. In fact the title was not a euphemism, and the installation contained the names of the people she shared a bed with, including family members as well as sexual partners.

The artist Tracey Emin is withdrawing from UK release her film based on her harrowing experiences as a teenager growing up in Margate, because film censors have given it an 18 classification.

Emin, 41, had already criticised the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) last month over the rating they awarded her film, saying the teenage audience it was aimed at would not be able to see it.

Now she has decided to withdraw it completely from UK cinema release, although it will still be shown next month on BBC3.

She said: "The most ludicrous thing about the BBFC's decision is that the film is going to be shown over the Christmas season by the BBC and anyone will be able to watch it."

Her film, Top Spot, looks at the lives of six teenagers growing up and discovering friendship, sex and love in Emin's home town of Margate.

The artist's debut film is an autobiographical look at life in the Kent town and was a collaboration with the prolific director Michael Winterbottom, whose other works include Jude, Wonderland, 24 Hour Party People, In this World, and, most recently, Nine Songs.

The BBFC took exception to a scene which it said lingers over the suicide of one of the film's characters and awarded the 18 rating on that basis.

At the time, the board's director of communication, Sue Clark, said: "We have concerns and we know from talking to professionals dealing with the 15-18 age group that suicide is a major problem ... Other than that scene, it would have been a 15 [rating]."

Emin is best known for her controversial art installations, such as Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, a tent stitched with the names of all her sexual conquests, and Bed, her 1999 Turner Prize entry consisting of skid-marked sheets, dirty tissues and unfurled condoms.

When she first heard of the BBFC's decision last month, she said: "I made this very personal film about teenage girls. I never in a million years thought they would not be able to see it."

Hamish McAlpine, owner of Tartan Films, the distributors, said: "This film was made specifically for 15-year-olds to try to advise and help them with the pitfalls of growing up as a teenager in modern Britain.

"Now the film has been denied its audience, it just seems pointless to release the film. Tracey was given the opportunity to mutilate her film in order to obtain a 15 certificate, but quite rightly refused to accede to this request from the BBFC."

He has criticised the board's decision as "bizarre" and says it treats American films more leniently. He cites the 15 rating given to 2000's The Virgin Suicides, an American film about five sisters who kill themselves, as evidence.